My Daily Nourishment

The idea of a blocked toilet leaves most people a little red in the face, and the Brits are notoriously easy to embarrass when it comes to matters such as this. Regardless of whether it is waste that has caused the blockage, or a beloved toy or maybe a toilet roll that your little one has decided to send for a swim, trying to unblock your loo is not a task anyone will envy. These types of mishaps usually happen when it’s least convenient, such as when you have company, so calling someone in for every little blockage isn’t always possible or necessary.  There are many ways to fix a loo clog by yourself at home, and learning how to unblock a toilet couldn’t be easier:

Before you start make sure that you have adequately protected yourself and the environment around you from the job in hand. You won’t need anyone to tell you how unhygienic the toilet bowl is, so make sure you are wearing gloves, and pop any solied clothes in the wash after you have finished with the toilet. Gloves can also be used as your sole tool in fixing your toilet, as if you can see the blockage, you can remove it from the pipe. Be sure to cover the area immediately surrounding the loo with some newspaper or an old painting sheet. This will protect your carpet or flooring should anything spill from the loo onto the floor.

If the problem is further down the pipe you will need something more than a pair of gloves in order to shift it. If you prefer a manual approach, then go for the metal coat hanger or plumbing snake option. Both these contraptions do a similar job, but one has been designed for the purpose. If you don’t have a plumbing snake however, and you don’t know anyone who could loan you one, you can achieve almost the same result with a hanger. Simply unravel a metal coat hanger, place a rag on one end to stop any scratching of the toilet, and feed round the waste exit until any blockage is broken down or dislodged.

If you want to attack a blockage with liquids then try warm water, baking powder and vinegar, or a shop bought chemical product. The water solution can take a little while, but is effective on natural waste and anything that can be softened by warm water. The idea is to raise the overall temperature of the bowl, so whilst the water cannot be boiling, it must be warm. Another method is the home-grown chemistry attack, which is achieved by combining baking powder and vinegar in the toilet bowl. This fizzes in a pretty extreme chemical reaction, which breaks down the blockage. The final liquid option are the harsh chemicals you will see advertised and in supermarkets. Be careful to only use products that are specifically listed for use with toilets as the materials used in these are unlike anywhere else in the house, and a corroding toilet would be far worse than a blocked drain.

Don’t panic about a blocked loo, there is always something you can do to fix it. If you find yourself in real difficulty, or the issue seems to be too far down to repair, you should call in the professionals. They will be able to clear your toilet in no time, and are possibly the only people left in the UK that don’t get embarrassed by everything toilet related.

This article has been provided by Dyno, drain, plumbing and home security specialists. You can find out more about Drain Cleaning Services from Dyno by visiting them online.